Insect Pests of Fruit, Plantation, Medicinal & Aromatic Crops (2+1)

3. Shot hole or bark borer

3. Shot hole or bark borer - Xyleborus parvulus E and X. perforans (Scolytidae : Coleoptera)

Damage

• Both grubs and adults attack the base of the palm and extend to the upper regions. Deposits of white powdery materials on the ground, around the base of the palm and numerous small strings of frass and white powdery material hang downwards from the pin size holes are the symptoms of attack. Damaged palms loose their vigour and are prone to attack by ants. The infested palms die in six months.



Shot hole borer damage with beetles

Management

• Follow the root feeding of monocrotophos 10 ml + water 10 ml per palm.
• Clean the frass and other materials on the trunk base and brush with carbaryl 50% WP emulsion (10 gm. in 1 litre of water) on the trunk base from the ground level up to the infested region.
• Give stem injection through a stove wick soaked in 0.2% fenthion or 2% dichlorovos plugging the hole and repeating the treatment using the same wick and hole a month after.